When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, "I
assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of
history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts." 

It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice President
chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of
the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign. 

Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the challenges of
mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy
shortages, and trying to ensure world peace. 

The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and
spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the
economy. In the long run, he believed, this shift would bring a better life for
all Americans. 

Ford's reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25
years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. Born in
Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on
the University of Michigan football team, then went to Yale, where he served as
assistant coach while earning his law degree. During World War II he attained
the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war he returned to
Grand Rapids, where he began the practice of law, and entered Republican
politics. A few weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married
Elizabeth Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan. 

As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former
President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President, former Governor
Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to fill that office by
appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of his own. 

Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite
opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to curb
inflation. Then, when recession became the Nation's most serious domestic
problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the economy. But, still
fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills
that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit. During
his first 14 months as President he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually
sustained. 

Ford continued as he had in his Congressional days to view himself as "a
moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a
dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs." A major goal was to help
business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and easing the controls
exercised by regulatory agencies. "We...declared our independence 200 years
ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers," he
said. 

In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige
after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. Preventing a new war in the
Middle East remained a major objective; by providing aid to both Israel and
Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an
interim truce agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union continued. President
Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear
weapons. 

President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but
lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of
Georgia. 

On Inauguration Day, President Carter began his speech: "For myself and for our
Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." A
grateful people concurred.